Student loan giant Sallie Mae, which has been buying up competing student lenders, has offered to acquire Pennsylvania's state-run student loan business for $1 billion. Under the deal, Sallie Mae would pay $500 million up front and $100 million annually over the next five years to purchase Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. The Pennsylvania lender, however, has replied with an emphatic "no" regarding the sale.
Sallie Mae, which was originally chartered to facilitate a secondary market for guaranteed student loans made by credit unions and banks, has shed its government charter to become the dominant originator of student loans. Separately, Sallie Mae said its General Revenue Corp. subsidiary has signed with the state of Ohio to collect defaulted personal income taxes.
